Honor and Reputation

Honor and Reputation

الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على رسوله الأمين، وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين. أما بعد،

Our khutbah is about people's honor and reputation. And we've noticed — and it is known — that there is a huge love of scandals in Muslim communities.

And this is very apparent, especially when you go online. Whenever there is a scandal that breaks out, there will be weeks of back and forth between people. Posts — or videos — will get millions of views. People will be patient and listen to 5 hours of scandalous material, but they cannot withstand half an hour of a lecture or serious material. Or someone will write an exposé and he'll be proud that he got 200,000 shares or reads or views. And perhaps you only got 200,000 sins.

This khutbah is about the high place that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given the honor and the reputation of the believers. And we're going to explain that through the example of zina.

The Gravity of Zina

Zina, as you know, is a very dangerous sin. It is a sin that can lead in many cases to either an issue of life or death. It affects the person committing it emotionally and physically. It affects the parents of the person committing the sin. It affects the siblings. It affects society. It affects the spouse. It affects the child of zina. One study says that a child of zina is three times more likely to end up in prison, and is more likely to end up with a lower level of education. Studies show neighborhoods where there are a lot of children born out of wedlock have a higher crime rate. And no exaggeration, when we refer to studies conducted in the US and Canada about the effects of zina on society — no exaggeration, it takes an hour to go through those effects. When you rush it, it takes 50 minutes.

So it is a dangerous sin. And it is the third worst sin in Islam. Number one is shirk — worshipping something besides Allah or something along with Allah. Two is murder. Three is zina.

Why Allah Made Zina Impossible to Prove in Court

So, as much as it is good to remove zina from society, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made it impossible to prove zina in court. This is a sin you would imagine Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to rid society of. So, you would think it would be easy to prove that someone committed zina in court. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made the conditions to prove zina legally in court impossible to meet.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah writes that since the time of the Prophet ﷺ until his time, there has never been a case of zina that was proved through the four witnesses — because the conditions of the four witnesses are impossible to meet. And we can say that from his time until our time, it has never been proven in court.

So, why did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it impossible to prove zina — conditions that can never be met? The scholars said: because as much as zina is dangerous in society, as much as we need to get rid of it, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made your reputation greater than that. So He made it impossible for anyone to tarnish your honor and your reputation. This is the place Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given to the reputation and the honor of the believers.

The Default in Islam: Concealment, Not Exposure

Hypothetically, the scholars said, what if these impossible conditions were met? Even for upstanding individuals who witnessed everything and were sure about all the details and met the impossible conditions — they can take it to court — but Islamically, they are not encouraged to take it to court. Even if the conditions are met, you are not encouraged to take it to court. Because the default — al-asl — is al-sitr. The default in Islam is to conceal people's sins. Not to expose, not to bring to light. The default is to hide people's sins and faults.

One of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, his name was Ma'iz ibn Malik. He committed zina. And he had his companion, Hazzal, who kept encouraging him to turn himself in to the Prophet ﷺ until he turned himself in. So, what does Hazzal get? Does he get a reward? Does he get a commission? Does he get a pat on the back? He got this from the Prophet ﷺ:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4377; also referenced in Musnad Ahmad)

The Nabi ﷺ said to him: "O Hazzal, what a horrible thing you've done. If you had concealed it with the edges of your clothes, it would have been better for you." And the Nabi ﷺ tells him — look at the language, look at the description — "If you would have concealed him with the edge of your garment." He committed zina and you could have covered him with the edge of your garment. Then he said it would have been better — not for him, of course it would have been better for him to be concealed — it would have been better for you to conceal him.

So the default is that we hide sins. We don't expose anyone's sins.

In the narration of Al-Ghamidiyyah — a woman from Ghamid, so she became known as the Ghamidi woman — when she came and she confessed to zina because she was pregnant, there are many narrations of this incident, and there is not a single narration where the Prophet ﷺ asked her about the man. There had to have been a man — where did she get pregnant from? For sure there was a man. But there is not a single narration where the Prophet ﷺ asked about the man. Because she chose to turn herself in and the man didn't. And so the default is his sin is concealed. No one is to even ask or investigate about him.

The Quranic Warning: Allah Forbids Repeating Such Accusations

In Surah An-Nur, after Allah azza wa jal defends Aisha radiallahu anha from the false accusation made against her, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

Allah azza wa jal says يَعِظُكُمُ — and the mufassireen said it means Allah forbids you or warns you. Allah forbids you from ever doing something like this. What's interesting is Allah azza wa jal doesn't say "Allah forbids you from returning to this story" or "re-accusing Aisha" or "ever opening up this book again." No. Allah azza wa jal says لِمِثْلِهِ — so Allah is saying: Allah forbids you from doing something like this to anyone ever again. Not just the wife of the Prophet ﷺ — to anybody, male or female. Don't ever do this again.

And as a side note, in a Muslim state, this applies even to non-Muslim women. Their honor and their reputation is protected, and if anyone accuses a chaste woman, then he will be punished also.

Also, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put the woman's reputation at an even higher level than that of the man. That's why the verses warning and punishing people who accuse innocent individuals of committing zina are all in the feminine sense — all talking about the woman. To the point that the scholars said: does this apply to the man? And they said yes. So then why is Allah mentioning the woman only? Because Allah put her honor and her reputation at a higher level than that of the man.

Guarding Our Own Reputation

On top of that, we are encouraged to guard and safeguard our own reputation. We see this in the Qur'an, in Surah Maryam, when Jibreel comes in the form of a human being and gives Maryam glad tidings of giving birth to one of the five greatest prophets. Miraculously, she's going to conceive him. And yet, her first concern wasn't her due date or the baby shower. Her first concern was: how am I going to explain this to people? Her first concern was her reputation.

Likewise, in the Qur'an, in Surah Ash-Shu'ara, Ibrahim alayhis salam makes this du'a — this request from Allah azza wa jal:

He's asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant him a good mention amongst people in the later generations. He cared about his reputation, even in future generations that he's not going to encounter.

In fiqh, when you're studying the reasons and excuses to break your fast — you're traveling, you're sick, you can break your fast — the scholars say: you're traveling and you go to another city, and everyone is fasting in Ramadan, but you break your fast and you have a perfect excuse in front of Allah azza wa jal. They tell you: don't drink in front of everyone. Or you're sick — nobody knows you're sick, no one knows you're a traveler — they'll just see a fasiq, a dissolute person drinking during the day in Ramadan. They said: don't. Allah knows your excuse. You safeguard your reputation; you care about it.

The Severe Warning Against Those Who Love Scandal

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put people's reputation on a very high pedestal and He put measures in place so we don't freely tarnish each other's reputations. Yet so many people love slandering and smearing and rumors and scandals. And for those people, contemplate this verse. Allah azza wa jal says in Surah An-Nur:

In this verse, Allah azza wa jal says: "Indeed, those who love for al-fahisha" — and al-fahisha typically in the Qur'an almost always refers to zina, illicit sexual relations — "for those who love to spread this amongst the Muslim community, lahum 'azabun aleem, for them is a severe and painful torment in this dunya and in the aakhira, and Allah knows and you do not know." That's one tafsir.

The other tafsir says: no, it's not talking about those who spread it, who talk about it, who inform others about it. The ayah doesn't say that. The ayah is saying they just love that it spreads. So that means this person is standing by, just witnessing it — he's not spreading the information, he's not passing on videos, he's not talking about it in gatherings, he's not taking part at all. But in his heart, he loves that it happened. He hated the imam so he loves that he's being destroyed. He hated the speaker so he's so happy in his heart that people are doing the dirty work — he's not doing any of it, he's just standing and watching it. So the ayah is threatening those who love that it happens, even if they have no part in it.

Ahadith on Slander and Protecting People's Honor

Brothers and sisters in Islam, part of the wisdom of forbidding slander, backbiting, and eavesdropping is to protect people's honor. There are many very scary ahadith about slander and speaking about people's honor. But we'll look at a hadith that might seem mild. And this is the famous hadith in Al-Tirmidhi that many of us know:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2317; also recorded in Ibn Majah, Hadith 3976. Classified as hasan by al-Tirmidhi and others.)

"From the practice of one's good Islam — or from a sign of one having good Islam — is that he leaves that which does not concern him." A hadith that doesn't sound that serious. It doesn't directly mention slander and backbiting and rumors. It just says: stay away from things that don't concern you. But it does mention slander and lying and backbiting and spreading rumors — because when do these things ever concern anyone? When is the last time someone was spreading a slander and it concerned them? It doesn't concern them. So the hadith speaks in very general terms and includes all these kinds of things. It doesn't concern you. Stay out of it. And this is a sign of good Islam.

As an example of one scary hadith, the Nabi ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 3597; also recorded in Musnad Ahmad)

"Whoever says about a believer that which is not in them" — meaning it's an untruth, you're accusing them of something they didn't do or a quality that's not in them — Allah on the Day of Judgment will put him in radghatal khabal. And khabal is bad. The scholars explain that radghatal khabal refers to the liquids of the people of the Hellfire — may Allah protect us from that — the pus and all the other liquids. Allah will get him stuck in that on the Day of Judgment until what? Until he comes out of it — meaning he distances himself from what he accused the believing person of. And how does he do that? The scholars said: he says "I was a liar when I said that about the individual," or he seeks the forgiveness of that individual, or he repents.

And there are so many ahadith. But this should be enough for us to stay out of people's affairs. To stay out of people's business. And to stay away from scandals. And to stay away from rumors.

We ask Allah to make us of those who recognize the truth as clear truth and follow the best of it. And to make us of those who recognize falsehood as clear falsehood and abstain from it. May Allah's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you.